Ramblings of a former IT professional and now Stay-At-Home-Dad

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Happy Mothers Day! Especially to those who are having their first one today. We had a relaxing start to the day, and by we I do mean Ainsley had a sleep-in followed by cuddles and a card & present from Rory.

We have had another fun week. Rory has really started taking to the whole solid food thing. We bought a variety of Watties jar puree’s for him to try and he adores the beef one! We have found the apple and mango though gives him a really red bum, picking it is the fruit acid at work. Which is really quite interesting as the plain apple that we made doesn’t have the effect on him. Regardless, it is all having an effect on the outputs… PHEWEE!!!! I forgot just how much the transition from milk to solids is.. not just in smell but also texture. And the fruit is having an almost laxative effect, had higher than average number of poonamis this week. But hey, could be worse. I could be stuck in an office!

Swimming on Monday was different. Stacey our usual instructor was away, and I don’t do change that well. That combined with a few people away meant we had a tiny group of 4 all up which took a little adjusting to. Was nice to have that time as always in the pool with him and his friends. Hoping that things are back to some resemblance of normal this week. Coffee group was the usual laugh a minute. Not that I can tell you what we discussed (First rule of coffee group: what happens in the group stays in the group) but needless to say it bounced to all four corners of topics!

A couple of other little outings rounded out the week nicely. Coffee with my former manager on Wednesday and Wriggle & Rhyme on Friday at the library made for a nicely balanced week really. I need to be careful that our weeks don’t become some large version of Groundhog Day, which I can see happening rather easily. I like routine. I like to know what we are doing and I think that is going to be a challenge for me over the next few months. I thought I had it covered with a jar of random activities on poker chips that we can dive into to mix things up each week but we/I have yet to embrace that. Maybe this week…..

This week has been a bit of an adventure. Rory has discovered the joys of eating lumps of food and how much fun it is to make a mess whilst doing so. Yes he started our take on what is currently called Baby Led Weaning (BLW) or what I prefer to call eating. For those following along at home you will know we tried him on mush last week with decidedly average results. This week he took such a liking to the banana I was eating in front of him that I broke a lump off and gave it to him. It was consumed faster than a Snickers at a Weight Watchers meeting! Over the weekend he tried peach, washed free of all the sugary goodness and that too was devoured. Like pretty much everything BLW seems to polarise the population; on one hand we have the NZ Ministry of Health advising against it until there is research-based evidence available and on the other equally passionate people that say it encourages a diverse diet and reduces the risk of obesity.I have also heard anecdotally that it encourages swallowing and speech development which cant be all bad right!

We FINALLY made it along to Wriggle and Rhyme at the local library. It was so much fun. Probably a bit over-crowed though. The pirate song got a little hijacked as no-one could walk around freely, but Rory loved the whole half hour. And as a bonus I got to have coffee and cake afterwards at the mall with a few of the coffee group girls. Was a really nice way to round out a short week that started with the 5 month vaccinations at 9am Tuesday!

I have been reflecting this week on how much this baby raising gig has changed since I had Lachlan 11 years ago. Back then, I had to remember when he last fed, pooped and slept. Now there is an app for that (well many actually, complete with graphs and data analysis if you are so inclined….). There was a finite number of options for cots and strollers. Now there appears to be every variation possible. Clothing was (largely) limited to what we could get at bricks-and-mortar stores like The Baby Factory or Farmers. Now you can get custom clothes delivered via Etsy to your door for half the cost of buying in NZ. Things seem to have become so complex and complicated now, at least from my recollections. I know with Lachlan I was one of ‘those’ parents that wanted the latest and greatest ‘things’ for my baby and seemed to have spent a small fortune on a (by todays standards) huge stroller that probably cold have had a kitchen sink installed. And I used precisely none of the added extras. I had a collection of Baby Einstein DVDs and toys, all of which he ignored.

My take on baby rearing now is what do babies actually need to live, grow, develop. If they grow up on the plains of the Kalahari they (probably) don’t have iPads, DVD players or the next big thing from Fisher-Price. All they really need shelter, food and clothing. They need opportunities to explore the world around them without being wrapped in cotton wool 24/7. And they need loving, caring parents, whether that be a man & and woman, two men or two women.

Week 5 and schools are back… YIPPEE!! Have to say only having to worry about what Rory and I are getting up to is SO much easier than factoring in an 11 year old too. We had another fun filled week, starting with swimming and supermarket delivery on Monday, closely followed by Coffee Group and hanging out with that amazing group of peeps on Wednesday, lunch with Ainsley on Thursday and Plunket Friday morning. In between all that my gorgeous mother-in-law has been up from Timaru to visit so we had a bit of time with her on Tuesday afternoon. Always nice for Rory to see his Nonna. Continue reading →